Vodafone to Begin Selling iPhone in UK and Ireland in Early 2010

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/09/29/vodafone-to-begin-selling-iphone-in-uk-and-ireland-in-early-2010/)

Vodafone today announced (http://www.vodafone.com/start/media_relations/news/group_press_releases/2009/iphone_uk_ire.html) that it will begin offering the iPhone 3G and 3GS for sale in the UK and Ireland in early 2010.Beginning today, Vodafone UK and Vodafone Ireland customers can register their interest in iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS at www.vodafone.co.uk/iphone (http://www.vodafone.co.uk/iphone) and www.vodafone.ie/iphone (http://www.vodafone.ie/iphone) respectively. Pricing, tariffs and availability information will be announced locally in the future.The news comes just one day after Orange announced (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/09/28/orange-announces-plans-to-offer-iphone-in-uk/) that it had struck a deal with Apple to begin selling the iPhone in the UK. The launches will bring to a rapid close wireless carrier O2's exclusivity arrangement with Apple for iPhone distribution in the UK and Ireland, a status it has enjoyed since the launch of the original iPhone in those countries in November 2007 (http://www.macrumors.com/2007/11/09/european-iphone-launches-germany-uk/) and March 2008 (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/03/14/iphone-launches-in-austria-and-ireland/) respectively.

Article Link: Vodafone to Begin Selling iPhone in UK and Ireland in Early 2010 (http://www.macrumors.com/2009/09/29/vodafone-to-begin-selling-iphone-in-uk-and-ireland-in-early-2010/)

[Jayomat]

g0 g0 .. same in germany please .. :apple:

[colmaclean]

Beginning to curse taking an 18-month contract with O2 in June...

[Mac Rules]

Thank god for competition, I don't expect the price to vary too much between the three, but if the contracts become just a little more convincing then my money's on the table! Which of the 3 operators has the best coverage in the UK, 3G-wise? I' ve always been led to believe O2 and Vodafone were pretty good...

PS Bit sluggish on the uptake again guys! :rolleyes:

[Poppysdad1]

This is good news. Hopefully O2 will have to work a little harder to keep existing iPhone subscribers with better tariffs and customer service. One point though, do Orange and Vodafone have big wifi networks around the country? O2's wifi partners give pretty widespread access. Even if it can be a little slow and localised.

[emotion]

Need to figure out if Voda coverage is *actually* better than O2 for me now.

Glad I didn't repeat sign up after my 18 months on iPhone1 was up now.

ps. Vodafone are gonna have to do better with Safari support too:

http://maps.vodafone.co.uk/coverageviewer/web/default.aspx?configuration=vod

[Blueflame1138]

I'd only ever been with Vodafone till I changed to O2 for the iPhone, and I would have stayed with them if they had got it in the first place.

That being said, I've been impressed with O2 on the whole. I guess I'll have to see what broadband deal Vodafone offers for their iPhone users.

Let the tariff wars begin!

[numbersyx]

iPhone to clean up the smartphone market.... Can't wait for this in Canada...

[alm99]

I am dreaming here, but with Vodafone getting the iPhone I hope this also points to Verizon Wireless getting the iPhone next year as well. Verizon Wireless being 45% owned by Vodaphone and their exclusive partner for overseas GSM compatibility with VZW current global phones. It’s no big deal to place a multi band CDMA/GSM chip in a phone anymore. Come on Apple and Verizon, place nice and stroke each others egos.

[koobcamuk]

Need to figure out if Voda coverage is *actually* better than O2 for me now.

Ditto. Someone else told me that vodafone allow iPlayer over 3G but I haven't found out yet.

[JayX]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7C144 Safari/528.16)

Over the last 10 years I've had contracts with o2, T-Mobile, Orange and 3 on various handsets. O2 have been fine so far and I have no desire to leave them, but hopefully in April when my contract is due to be renegotiated they will cut me a good deal so I don't run off to someone else. Only 6 months to go...

[Palmyra]

how long will we be stuck with AT&T?

[andylyon]

Beginning to curse taking an 18-month contract with O2 in June...

I did exactly the same. Although i'll only be annoyed if it's cheaper on either of the other networks, as O2 are my fave anyways.

AnDy

[u49aa2]

To hell..Apple-O2 iPhone monopoly :D

[Shuttleworth]

My Vodaphone contract is up for renewal in early 2010 :D.

[Teh Don Ditty]

I am dreaming here, but with Vodafone getting the iPhone I hope this also points to Verizon Wireless getting the iPhone next year as well. Verizon Wireless being 45% owned by Vodaphone and their exclusive partner for overseas GSM compatibility with VZW current global phones. It’s no big deal to place a multi band CDMA/GSM chip in a phone anymore. Come on Apple and Verizon, place nice and stroke each others egos.

When Verizon is fully LTE, then you will have a Verizon iPhone. There will never be a CDMA version of it. Enough already.

[johnnyjibbs]

Looking at the official 3G coverage maps published by the regulator Ofcom earlier this year, the results are quite alarming and not what one might expect :eek: :

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/licensing/classes/broadband/cellular/3g/maps/3gmaps/coverage_maps.pdf

While many (including me) believe that O2 and Vodafone have the best coverage, actually Orange is way ahead (and even more so once consolidation with T-Mobile begins), and Hutchinson 3 is top.

If the price war doesn't happen, people will choose on points such as coverage. Still, at least it will spread the data hogs (including me!) across the networks so there's more bandwidth for everybody!

[mr_matalino]

Why are exclusive agreements ending all over the world EXCEPT FOR AT&T?!?

[Teh Don Ditty]

Why are exclusive agreements ending all over the world EXCEPT FOR AT&T?!?

Because the US doesn't have another competitor to AT&T (T-mobile uses a different 3G frequency. Sprint and Verizon are currently CDMA, Sprint going to WiMax and Verizon to LTE).

You'll have to wait until Verizon switches their network over to LTE before we get to see some solid competition.

[Bagot69]

i used to have a contract with 3 and always had a perfect signal! now im on O2 + quite disapointed with the coverage no where near as gud! Let 3 claim there signal is so gud coz they use O2's masts! how does that work?

[MrCubes]

Whichever camp you fall into this is good news.
Even if you're staying with O2 (out of choice or contract) I think service can only get better. The problems I've had seem to be a flooding of the data networks due to so many people on the one carrier with iPhones! Spreading the load will hopefully take some of the burden off O2.
There may be some price cuts too, but I don't expect too much.

[emotion]

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/licensing/classes/broadband/cellular/3g/maps/3gmaps/coverage_maps.pdf

Good link Johnny. Ta.

[kas23]

Why are exclusive agreements ending all over the world EXCEPT FOR AT&T?!?

I have a feeling we are going to be seeing this exclusivity agreement in the States for a while. I don't necessarily agree with "there's no alternative" argument, because there is always T-Mobile (even though they are small, they could probably sell another 3-5 million phones per year. As for the different frequency TMo uses, wouldn't this just require a small tweak to the hardware?). The alright dollar reigns strongly in the States and AT&T is likely just going keep on blindly shovelling money into Apple's wallet.

[yetanotherdave]

Perfect, am currently on an unlocked 3g on vodafone, unlocked only to get onto vodafone, it'll be nice to be able to get the newest hardware/software updates without having to worry about basebands and bootloaders and activation servers and software with dumbass names like pwnage.


the questions that remain for me are
1) will I be able to wait until july and get the new iphone 3gs2, or will I cave and get the 3gs? (really want at least 32gigs)
2) will apple now go over o2's head and offer an unlocking service for existing handsets? there would appear to be no reason whatsoever not to now, even if it's just unlocking to just the three approved providers, rather than universal.

[Dagless]

Perfect! I need to use Vodafone (free phonecalls to family) so this is pretty excellent news to me. Hopefully I can just transfer that cheap plan over to an iPhone contract with them. And hopefully they offer unlimited data too.

[4np]

Ha! Finally some competition to bring down the prices :) I wonder when we will see the same happen in other European countries... Or better yet, being able to order the phone simlock free in the Apple store and choose your own provider and plan :)

[Kobekes]

mmm... january

I bet Apple is going to sell iPhones themselves by then (choose your data carrier).

I can imagine the Apple store line-up:

iPod Touch
iPhone
iTablet
Macbook


choose your 3G weapons

[benwillis0612]

Why are exclusive agreements ending all over the world EXCEPT FOR AT&T?!?

They're not! Just in the UK, can't wait til they start revealing prices

[uptherighttree]

this is better news. i posted yesterday about the choice of phones i was deciding (N900 or iPhone) but as I'm with Vodafone and my contract expires in December I think I may wait and see who has the best deal and do the "threaten to leave" card

[TheBritishBloke]

Vodafone...REALLY? dude. They suck! Even 3 are better than them. Geez. I love O2 :)

[yetanotherdave]

I wonder if vodafone will update their towers to offer edge for when you are out of 3G area, it really sucks to go to gprs when you're out of 3g range.

[Sabenth]

well vodafone is the only network that works were i was living in wales so i will see what happens when they release more info. o2 as a network have always worked well back in Yorkshire but usless in wales. so looks like ill be going to vodafone

[capoeirista]

Living in the east of England, and never having seen an EDGE symbol, let alone a 3G one, suggests to me that it may well be time to switch to a different network. I think my 18 months is probably up early next year too :)

[Jelite]

PAYG iPhone 3G S for £299 please vodafone.

[OllyW]

Virgin Mobile are also thought to be keen to secure the right's to sell the iPhone and with Orange and T-Mobile merging, Apple's smartphone could end up being available on all major mobile phone networks, an unlikely option just two years ago.

Looks like Virgin Mobile could be next.

[Dargleside]

The sooner the better. O2 Ireland has had and continues to have very poor iPhone inventory, too restrictive pricing plans, their web shop is the opposite of customer friendly, and really any alternative is desirable. The price competition will be welcome. The ability to have choice makes this the best news for iPhone users in Ireland. Its worth the wait to not have to deal with O2. Pity the early-adopters on 18 month price plans.

[OllyW]

Pity the early-adopters on 18 month price plans.

The contracts of those who bought the iPhone 3G at it's launch will expire in January, just in time for Vodafone to step in if they get the plans and prices right.

[Chris.L]

I wonder if vodafone will update their towers to offer edge for when you are out of 3G area, it really sucks to go to gprs when you're out of 3g range.

I caught Edge on my iPhone the other day while in London. I wouldn't worry about getting EDGE over GPRS, in real life, you probably wouldn't notice the difference

[aegisdesign]

i used to have a contract with 3 and always had a perfect signal! now im on O2 + quite disapointed with the coverage no where near as gud! Let 3 claim there signal is so gud coz they use O2's masts! how does that work?

3 have the most extensive 3G network but they rely on other carriers for 2G outside of their 3G area.

[ukcolinr]

i used to have a contract with 3 and always had a perfect signal! now im on O2 + quite disapointed with the coverage no where near as gud! Let 3 claim there signal is so gud coz they use O2's masts! how does that work?

3 have their own 3G masts but use o2 for their 2G coverage. I think that is what they're referring to? I was with 3 for about 6 months (I bought out my contract), I didn't have problem so much with the service, but their customer service was beyond shocking! Maybe it has got better, it was a long time ago, but I must admit I'm not willing to give them a try lol

[Stoobs]

Living in the east of England, and never having seen an EDGE symbol, let alone a 3G one, suggests to me that it may well be time to switch to a different network. I think my 18 months is probably up early next year too :)

Nearer Norwich or Ipswich is fine for signal, as is around Lowestoft - decent 3G signals on all of the main providers - no 7.2MBit though :(

[parish]

Be interesting to see how far into an existing contract you have to be for VF to allow you to u/g to an iPhone.

My contract doesn't run out until Sept. 2010, wonder if they'll let me u/g in Jan/Feb or whenever they get the iPhone.

[yetanotherdave]

Awesome, just got off the phone with O2 customer services, who said that as there is no longer exclusivity there's no longer a reason not to unlock and they will be unlocking iPhones soon, but they don't have the procedure in place yet (I'm guessing they will wait till the bitter end, ie the day that orange start selling them).
I was enquiring about my phone, on contract, I doubt they'll be as quick to unlock PAYG...

[andylyon]

Awesome, just got off the phone with O2 customer services, who said that as there is no longer exclusivity there's no longer a reason not to unlock and they will be unlocking iPhones soon, but they don't have the procedure in place yet (I'm guessing they will wait till the bitter end, ie the day that orange start selling them).
I was enquiring about my phone, on contract, I doubt they'll be as quick to unlock PAYG...

Cool I see that as good news, least we will have a choice where to go when out contracts expire!

AnDy

[yetanotherdave]

I caught Edge on my iPhone the other day while in London. I wouldn't worry about getting EDGE over GPRS, in real life, you probably wouldn't notice the difference

I work in a basement with 0 phone signal from any network save for a vodafone repeater that just does gprs/voice. Trust me, the difference is very noticeable!!

[manu chao]

They're not! Just in the UK, can't wait til they start revealing prices
The exclusivity contract has also recently ended in France.

[Bevz]

They should really unlock the iPhone in the UK now... eh eh? ;)

[Bevz]

Awesome, just got off the phone with O2 customer services, who said that as there is no longer exclusivity there's no longer a reason not to unlock and they will be unlocking iPhones soon, but they don't have the procedure in place yet (I'm guessing they will wait till the bitter end, ie the day that orange start selling them).
I was enquiring about my phone, on contract, I doubt they'll be as quick to unlock PAYG...

Cool! I really hope they're true to their word over this...

[Kebabselector]

So a question to the potential new T-Orange/Vodaphone purchasers next year (cos that's when it seems it'll be out).

Are you going to buy a 3GS in January/February when a new iPhone will probably be out in July?

[OllyW]

So a qeustion to the potential new T-Orange/Vodaphone purchasers next year (cos that's when it seems it'll be out).

Are you going to buy a 3GS in January/February when a new iPhone will probably be out in July?

I'm going onto Simplicity in January, then waiting until June / July for the new iPhone. I'll then pick the best phone and contract deal that suits me from either O2, Orange or Vodafone (or anyone else who wants to join in).

[ramases]

Some of the news reports seem to indicate that the reseller model will be different to the current O2 one. I believe that at present O2 give a portion of the revenue to Apple for each iPhone. The new model will not give any revenue to Apple and that O2 has been able to renegotiate its current contract to match those of Vodafone and Orange.

If this is the case how will this affect iPhone O/S updates. Apple provides updates to the O/S free as the iPhone is accounted as a subscription model. Touch owners pay a fee.

I'm not an accountant, but if no revenue is incoming to Apple for the continuing use of the iPhone under the mobile phone operators contract, I would expect that Apple couldn't class the iPhone as a subscription and would then need to charge for Operating System upgrades.

Any thoughts?

[cal6n]

So a question to the potential new T-Orange/Vodaphone purchasers next year (cos that's when it seems it'll be out).

Are you going to buy a 3GS in January/February when a new iPhone will probably be out in July?

I've already got a 32 GB 3GS that I bought on PAYG in July. After selling my 16 GB 3G, it cost me just shy of £200 to "upgrade" and didn't extend my contract.

I'm going onto Simplicity in January, then waiting until June / July for the new iPhone. I'll then pick the best phone and contract deal that suits me from either O2, Orange or Vodafone (or anyone else who wants to join in).

That's my plan too, but with the possibility of O2 unlocking "out-of-contract" iPhones, I'll be looking at Vodafone's equivalent to simplicity as well.

Considering that none of the networks have an adequate signal inside my flat, my choice of provider next summer will probably depend on who first offers me a femtocell.

[jimmy83]

I'm going onto Simplicity in January, then waiting until June / July for the new iPhone. I'll then pick the best phone and contract deal that suits me from either O2, Orange or Vodafone (or anyone else who wants to join in).

This

[twoodcc]

good news. now it seems that it's only a matter of time before the iPhone is on more carriers in the US

[parish]

good news. now it seems that it's only a matter of time before the iPhone is on more carriers in the US

That may depend on competition laws in the US. The exclusive deal in France was ruled illegal under EU competition laws so that affects all EU countries which is probably behind this - Apple moving before they are told to.

[OllyW]

That may depend on competition laws in the US. The exclusive deal in France was ruled illegal under EU competition laws so that affects all EU countries which is probably behind this - Apple moving before they are told to.

The French law was just that, a French law. It doesn't apply in the UK, there are still loads of other mobile phones tied to networks on exclusive deals in the UK.

The reason it's now going to be available on more networks is because the exclusive contract with O2 is about to finish (http://blog.o2.co.uk/home/2009/09/o2-iphone-update.html).

[samab]

That may depend on competition laws in the US. The exclusive deal in France was ruled illegal under EU competition laws so that affects all EU countries which is probably behind this - Apple moving before they are told to.

It was a French regulator ruling that was backed up by a French court --- nothing to do with any EU competition laws.

The French ruling was idiotic to begin with --- there are only 3 national carriers in France, all owned by French companies, zero foreign competitions and the largest carrier in France owns something like 42% of the French mobile telephone market.

If they want better mobile phone service pricing in France --- just give out a fourth mobile license. Simple as that. The French ruling is all talk and zero substance.

[aegisdesign]

good news. now it seems that it's only a matter of time before the iPhone is on more carriers in the US

...and Apple releasing an iPhone that works on any of the other carriers.

[jabbawok]

It will be nice to have a carrier whos data network wont fall over once a week.

[micko2004]

At last I can get away from O2, I had been with Vodafone for years before iPhone came along, and O2 have given me terrible signal problems throughout the country, with Vodafone it never seemed to be an issue.

Maybe I will be able to use my phone again in my flat!! :)

Can't wait!!

[kdarling]

I'm not an accountant, but if no revenue is incoming to Apple for the continuing use of the iPhone under the mobile phone operators contract, I would expect that Apple couldn't class the iPhone as a subscription and would then need to charge for Operating System upgrades.

RIM doesn't charge for Blackberry updates.

WinMo major updates are paid for either by the manufacturer or the carrier. The user isn't charged.

AFAIK, Nokia doesn't charge for updates either.

Wonder how they all account for doing it?